Located on the edge of Santee, a midsized city in the County of San Diego in California, West Hills High School is one of two public high schools in the city. The school is part of the Grossmont Unified High School District and has around 2,000 to 2,500 students in any given year. Most of the students are from the Santee area, but there are plenty of students from all around San Diego County. Opened in 1987, West Hills is one of the newer high schools in the GUHSD system, but it has quickly established itself as one of the best with respect to academics and teacher quality.
West Hills offers a wide variety of courses with varying difficulty levels in areas such as art, mathematics, science, English, and tons of others. Like many schools, West Hills offers college prep, honors, and Advanced Placement classes. Advanced Placement courses offered include Government, Art History, Spanish, German, Calculus, and plenty of others. As for academics in comparison to other high schools, West Hills regularly ranks as one of the top schools in the GUHSD with regards to state testing.
In the area of sports, West Hills has every team that one would expect a high school to have, including soccer, football, basketball, baseball, track and field, cross country, and many others. Many of the West Hills sports teams are top contenders each year for championships. For the 2009 and 2010 seasons, the Varsity girl’s basketball team won back-to-back championships in their division. In fact, 2009 was the first division win for the Varsity girl’s team. The other sports have various championship winning years, but the teams have their ups and downs throughout the seasons, as does any other schools’ teams.
West Hills has a theater that was recently built to hold over 500 seating spaces for spectators of the various plays that are put on each year. During the fall and spring, there is a play and musical respectively that is preformed by the students of the school. The West Hills theater program is typically awarded various honors for its depth and quality, and many of the play performances and performers are recognized for their accomplishments too.
The campus itself is fairly large with the gymnasium and theater placed in one large building, while each department of the school has its own building. In all, there are over 10 different buildings on the school’s campus. There is a football stadium with stands, multiple baseball and softball fields, and various parking lots. The school has no lockers, aside from the ones in the locker rooms for physical education. Moreover, the school is geared toward the sunny weather of San Diego County because none of the buildings are connected by overhangs, which only causes problems when it is raining.
The teachers at West Hills are often recognized for their great teaching, and it is not uncommon for a teacher or two to be nominated as a teacher of the year for the GUHSD. In fact, the majority of teachers at the school are very popular with students. Many of the teachers have been with West Hills for quite a few years, but new teachers arrive at the school every year or two.
All in all, West Hills is an all-around proficient school in all areas. The academics of the school show that it is one of the best schools in the district, and West Hills offers plenty of different courses that many other schools do not. Also, the sports teams of West Hills are fairly strong each year, and the theater program is nearly unmatchable. Any parent considering sending their child or children to West Hills High School won’t regret their decision if they decide to do so.
